We Are All Friends
by sean4
Summary: Hao wants to defeat Yoh at all costs. Apparently, he has found a way to do it, and only his true friends can save him now.
1. Yoh, the boy with many friends

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King, etc, etc...  
  
To become the Shaman King. To be the savior of this earth. Each shaman with its own vision of it, each wants to save the world their own way. By their own means. Though, there are some who use fouler means than others. For fouler purposes...  
  
Yoh was meditating this in his room at the Patches' Inn, while he gazed out his window, into the starry night. The thought of Hao came instantly to him. Hao. His twin brother, his counterpart; whose only purpose in life -his third life, to be precise, since he had already resurrected two times- was to become Shaman King to clear this planet from the human scum. In fact, it was because of this that he had come back from death twice.   
  
And Yoh though: 'How can there be someone so evil, so wronged? Why would anyone want to do that, anyway?' Once, he had tried to know why would his brother want such a thing; he had tried to understand him; he had tried to love him. but after seeing all of Hao's evil deeds throughout his journey, he had no other feelings towards him but hate. Yoh smiled. He couldn't help thinking: 'Hao is just a bitch'.  
  
  
  
At that very moment, he heard a knock at the door.   
  
"Come in," Yoh said.  
  
In came Anna. "Yoh?" she asked as she stood in the threshold. "What are you doing?"  
  
"Just thinking a little," he answered.   
  
"Thinking?"  
  
"It is food for the spirit," he said with a smile.  
  
Anna did not take her eyes from him. But what did she think as she watched him, was impossible to tell. Then she glanced at the clock on the wall. It stroke nine thirty.  
  
"Say... it is a little late. Are you going to bed already?"  
  
Yoh sighed. "I'm not sleepy."  
  
"Great," she said with sudden enthusiasm. "Then I want you to go train a bit outside. Why don't you run a few laps around the village as a warm up?"  
  
Yoh was shocked at her words. His pupils shrank until they were no more than two tiny dots. Then he came back to his senses, and with an angry voice cried: "Hell, no!! I am not going outside to kill myself running around like an idiot! Much less at this hour!! If you even dared think I would, you are simply out of your mind!!"   
  
As soon as he finished saying this, he grew pale with dread, his expression filled with anguish, and then he realized his great mistake. Anna was expressionless, her fists closed.   
  
With a trembling voice, Yoh managed to say: "I'm sorry... Anna... I'm really sorry... I don't know what happened to me... please..."  
  
But he said no more. Once Anna grabbed him, her punch was enough to send him flying downstairs, as she shouted from the top: "And don't ever talk to me that way again, or I'll beat you so hard that you won't be able to open your mouth for a week!" And she went to her room and shut the door. She didn't even mention the training again.  
  
As Yoh laid at the foot of the stairs, half-conscious and with spirals on his eyes, he heard the voice of Horohoro.  
  
"Yoh! Whatever happened to you!?" but the answer came instantly to him. "Oh, right. But what exactly what exactly did you tell her this time?"  
  
Yoh then sat upright and looked at him. He and Pilika were sitting at a table in the lobby. It was a little, low rectangular table, with a flower arrangement at the center, and a small sofa on each of the long sides. Pilika and Horohoro were sitting side by side.  
  
"Oh, nothing really," he said after a moment. "I would rather not talk about it right now."  
  
"As you wish," Horohoro said amusedly, though he turned his head away as to pretend indifference.  
  
"Oh, but Yoh!! How very badly she hit you!" Pilika broke in. Her expression was slightly worried. Yoh turned towards her. Pilika, he realized for the first time, was a very pretty girl. "I don't think you should stand her treating you like that," she went on. "Poor little thing..."  
  
"Oh, no," Yoh started. "It is nothing really. We shouldn't pay much atte..."  
  
"Hey, don't get so sweet with this guy, now!" Horohoro cut him short. "He already has his girl, remember? I don't want my little sister hanging around with brats like him!" he said mischievously.   
  
"Oh, brother!" Pilika pushed him playfully. "I wouldn't let any guy hang around with me..." she said and cut the phrase in the middle. Then, the look on her eyes became somewhat strange, and all of a sudden, she wrapped her arms around his neck. With a low mellow voice, she spoke to his ear: "besides my big brother,". Horohoro looked at her, his eyes became lost, and he too, surrounded her neck from behind with his arm.  
  
A huge sweat drop ran down the back of Yoh's head. 'This is getting odd' he thought, and for a moment he didn't know what to do, but at last he simply smiled sympathetically at them. Then he tried not to pay much attention to this, or at least look as if he didn't. 'After all, Horohoro is, indeed, one of my few true friends.' And very soon, more than ever, more than anything, Yoh would need friends... 


	2. The Beginning Of The End

Yoh rose to his feet, and walked towards the door.  
  
"Where are you going?" Horohoro asked.  
  
"Outside. I am going to jog a bit before going to bed."  
  
"What?" Pilika cried. "That is madness! Hey, if it is just because Anna told you to, you don't have to do it at all!" she said with a slight frown.  
  
"Uhh... I don't think that's true", Yoh said while he glanced nervously at the stairway.  
  
Pilika was puzzled, her eyes two tiny marbles. "What do you mean?" She then looked at her brother.  
  
Horohoro's headband covered his eyes, and he neither seemed to believe that disobedience could be an option for Yoh. "It is obvious that you do not know that woman," he said with a low voice. "When I used to live at their house, she made me work twenty four hours a day. If I didn't, she would beat me and make me sleep outside. Poor Manta had to cook and clean the floor EVERYDAY! She takes advantage of her position as Yoh's fiancée to treat us all like dogs!!" he finished annoyed.  
  
"Don't get so worked up, Horohoro," Yoh said meekly. "It is just that she sometimes has trouble setting herself limits."   
  
Horohoro grunted.  
  
"But at least don't go by yourself," Pilika insisted. "It is too late to be wandering around alone. Why don't you go with him, brother?"  
  
"No, don't worry, I'll be careful. Besides, I am not alone. Amidamaru is with me," Yoh said as Amidamaru appeared at his side.  
  
"I will take care of master Yoh," he said with a smile.  
  
"You sure?" Horohoro said.  
  
"Yes, don't worry for me. Well, I should get going now. See ya!" he said as he went out the door.  
  
* * *   
  
"Hello there, gentlemen. Can I help you?" Hao said as Marco and Lyserg dragged Iron Maiden Jeanne into his cave; Opacho and the priest stood at his side. A fire in the middle of the cave separated both groups.  
  
Marco spoke with a solemn voice: "We have come here because we have resolved that going on with the Shaman Fight is merely nonsense." Lyserg stood expressionless beside him, the iron maiden behind. "The reason is obvious, we will not wait for you to defeat all other shamans in the tournament and take control of the Great Spirits." Hao sat still, smiling. His smile, although not malicious at all, contained such pure mock, arrogance, nastiness as could not be put into words. At last, Marco spoke with the grimmest voice. "We have come to destroy you, here and now."  
  
Hao let out a low giggle. "That is very brave from your part, gentlemen," he said. "To come here into my lair, in the middle of the night, all by yourselves, telling me right in my face that you came to destroy me right away. Very amusing." He continued: "It is also very wise, since only a few teams remain in the tournament now, and I am drawing ever closer to achieve my goal..." Specifically, the few teams that remained were Lily Five, The Ren, and Funbari Onsen.  
  
"However..." Hao's voice took a malicious tone. "If you don't mind me asking, how have you planned to do it?"  
  
"With the Light of Justice," came suddenly the voice of Jeanne from inside the maiden. The lid opened, and she said: "The Gate of Babylon failed in dragging you and your other half, Yoh, into the void. Time is running short. Thus, we will fight you until we kill you. Then we will go for Yoh, and put and end to your evil, once and for all."  
  
Hao started laughing, a loud, sickening, uncontrolled laugh, which didn't stop until after several seconds later. "Marvelous!! Astounding!! I bow before your bravado, gentlemen!! Or should I say, stupidity?!" he cried delighted. With a malicious expression he said: "Very well then, you will have what you came for..." His aura strengthened, and a soft glow wrapped around him. The fire in the middle of the cave grew to a column from roof to floor. Then, the Spirit of Fire made itself visible for a brief moment, and all of a sudden, the entrance to the cave was blown up.   
  
The three X-Laws gazed openmouthed as flame-wrapped rocks fell all around them. "Over here!!" Hao cried. "I will crush you all!!" 


End file.
